It was a decided snub, and well merited, so I could hardly blame her.
I saw, in the hurried glimpse I got of her then, that she was hatless and that her hair was a great crown of wavy, burnished gold, radiating in the sunlight that streamed through the doorway despite the obstruction of the young lady's companion.
"It is our intention to live at Golden Crescent for some time, sir. I understand we may purchase our supplies here?"
"Yes! madam,—miss."
I backed, in order to get round to my proper side of the counter. But, unfortunately, I backed without looking; I stumbled over an empty box and sprawled like a clown into the corner, landing incontinently among bundles of brooms and axe handles.
Never in all my life did I feel so insignificant or so foolish as then. The very devil himself seemed to have set his picked imps after me; for it was my habit, ordinarily, to be neither dirty as I was then, nor clownish as I must have appeared.
To put it mildly, I was deeply embarrassed, and at a woman, too. Oh! the degradation of it.
As I rose, I fancied that my ears caught the faintest tinkle of a laugh. I turned my frowning eyes on the young lady, but she was a very owl for inscrutable solemnity. I looked over at the elderly person in the doorway; she was smiling upon me with a most exasperating benignity.
"What kind of business do you run here?" asked the self-possessed young lady.
"Strictly cash, miss,—excepting the Camps and the better class of settlers."